Part 7 (2/2)
I grabbed their arms and insinuated myself between them, where the scent of rose water fought with that of baby powder. I sneezed as I walked them to the sofa and sat them down.
Dolly had deeded me the Underhill building with Ethel's approval. Neither of them wanted to pay taxes on it any longer, so that was my price. I'd paid this year's taxes, which were, of course, for last year, but that didn't matter. It had been an awesome deal all around. They practically gave me the place.
”I have something for Dolly,” I said. ”And I have a couple of questions for both of you.” I pulled out the envelope from my storage room cabinet that Dante indicated as Dolly's. ”I found this in my storage room, Dolly,” I said handing it to her. ”It has your name on it.”
Dolly's hand shook as she fumbled with it then she handed it to me to open.
After I did, she pulled out a card. ”Oh!” she said. ”Oh, I've never been so pleased.”
Ethel took the card from her mother-in-law's hand as if it was her due. ”A bronze casket and a cemetery plot? Beside your old lover? Are you out of your mind? You know the gossips around here.”
Dolly cackled. ”I won't be here to care.”
”So you're happy about this, Mama? You don't want to be laid to rest beside your husband?”
”Your Edward's father was an idiot, Ethel. I'd prefer to spend eternity beside Dante. Consider it my last wish.”
”Oh, please, you've had so many last wishes since you turned a hundred, I'm keeping a journal collection for your eulogy.”
I chuckled, despite myself.
Dolly pulled me down to the sofa beside her and kissed my cheek. ”Tell him I said yes.”
”Mama, are you losing it?”
”You can tell him yourself whenever you want,” I said.
”I could,” Dolly said, ”though I'd hate for him to see me this way.”
Ethel made a weak protest, since we weren't making any sense, but I winked at her, so she stopped.
”What he'd see,” I said, ”is the girl he fell in love with.”
Dolly giggled, the blus.h.i.+ng centenarian, and Ethel rolled her eyes. ”You said you had a question for us, cupcake?”
”A question and a request.”
”Anything you want,” Dolly said, hugging that envelope to her heart.
I hated to dim her joy but I needed answers. ”Did you hear what happened tonight at the playhouse?”
”Of course we did. It's a shame about Tunney.”
”And Sampson,” I added.
”Sampson never did fit in here,” Dolly said. ”Transplants rarely do. He only lived here for thirty-three years.”
Ethel nodded. ”Grouchy, inhospitable man.”
”Could Tunney have had a motive to do Sampson in, besides Sampson's sale to the conglomerate? I mean, since the whole town was mad about that. The playhouse fire started right before Tunney closes his market, and he said that he ran over to help like we did, but he was, unfortunately, still carrying a butcher knife when the police got there.”
”Was there much blood?” Dolly was one for lapping up the gore.
Ethel sniffed. ”Certain people go to the butcher shop after Tunney closes.”
Huh? I felt like a bloodhound who'd lost the scent. ”Really? Why?”
”You might talk to Sampson's sister, Suzanne, about that.”
”Ethel,” Dolly said. ”You shush.”
”I'm only telling our little cupcake.”
They'd called me that forever, probably because I ate as many as they made over the years.
Ethel failed to look contrite, though she tried. ”It's true that my suggestion is rooted in gossip. So go to the source.”
I looked from one of them to the other. ”The source of the gossip or the object of the gossip?”
”The object,” Dolly said.
Oh sc.r.a.p. If Suzanne Sampson was visiting Tunney after hours, presumably not for meat-cutting lessons, and she turned out to be Sampson's heir, Werner might be able to make a case against Tunney for conspiracy at the least. I'd go to the source, all right. Both of them.
Dolly patted my arm. ”Don't a.s.sume anything, cupcake.”
Hmm. I forgot how long the Sweets had known me. Long enough to read my fast track mind, apparently.
”Listen, Eve's waiting for me in the car. Do me a favor? Ask around about Vinney Carnevale? See what people know about him?”
”Why?” Dolly wanted to know, getting all perked up for more gossip.
”I know nothing,” I said. ”But by the time I do, I'm guessing you'll be way ahead of me.”
Dolly chuckled as Ethel walked me to the door and watched me get into my rental.
”Eve? Wake up. We need to go see Vinney.”
”Oh. Sure. Right.” She closed her eyes again.
”You have to give me directions,” I said.
”Got any toothpicks?” She blinked her eyes open and started directing me.
Vinney Carnevale lived on the outskirts of Mystick Falls, in an upscale fifties housing development that had seen better days. Among the fixer-uppers, however, his house stood out. ”Looks like somebody spent a few bucks to update this place,” I said as I parked the car. ”Does he have money?”
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